Two cell phones, one teacher and a classroom in a tribal hamlet

Prof Purnima conducting class over phone

Right at half past four in the evening, in a small makeshift classroom in a tribal hamlet of Deria, in Joida taluk of Uttara Kannada, a mobile phone starts ringing. This is like a school bell ringing as their classes are being conducted by a teacher from nearly 500 km away, in Mysuru.

With the schools shut due to the pandemic and left with no access to computers or the internet, these school-going children of the Kunbi community were left in the lurch.

Now, a single mobile phone has changed that. Around a dozen children from Classes 4 to 9, who would otherwise have whiled away their time, attend classes religiously.

Their teacher, Prof R Purnima, though not physically present, gives them instructions, explains topics, dictates notes and answers their questions.

Purnima, a retired English Professor, has been taking classes every day since mid-June from Mysuru.

She had come in touch with these children last year through Jayanand Derekar, the president of Joida’s Kunbi Samaja. She had conducted free English and drama classes for them then and had promised to return this year too. As the pandemic prevented her from travelling to Joida, she sought the help of Derekar, who immediately bought a new mobile phone to conduct tele-classes. However, the mobile network was still an issue.

“We don’t get a good signal in the forests where these children live. So, finding the right place with a good network connection was a challenge. Once the right place was found, we fixed the mobile phone at a suitable point and connected it to a speaker via Bluetooth, and classes have been conducted ever since,” Derekar says.

The class goes on till 6, and on some days till 6.30 in the evening, with no adult supervision.

Purnima was aware that the gap in learning due to the pandemic would lead to more children dropping out of schools. This prompted her to come up with this novel idea.

“As these children are first-generation learners whose parents cannot guide them, I was worried they may fall behind in their learning due to their schools being closed. So, I thought of conducting classes over the phone,” says Purnima.

Purnima mainly teaches them English, but her classes are interspersed with topics from Science, History and Geography as well. She narrates the stories of great scientists, tells them the significance of a place and an object's history. She also conducts quizzes to improve their general knowledge and awareness.

The classes are interactive to keep the students engaged. Purnima not only explains the concepts to them but also helps them improve their speaking and reading skills.

“Learning via phone is a new experience for us. Though initially it was a little difficult to follow, now we have gotten used to it. What we are learning now will help us in schools too. As we are continuing with our studies, we won’t find it difficult to study when schools reopen again,” says Neha Derekar, a Class 9 student.